Some lessons learned

[Teddy Regpala]

Preparing for work this morning, I thought about bringing my camera gears with me today. As there might be photo opportunity that might come up, whatever it'll be.
But since it's summer time (in the northern hemisphere), it's so hot over here and leaving my gears alone in the car will definitely toast some parts. And since I already have my laptop bag with me, I'm so lazy to drag another bag with me to my office. So long story short, I didn't bring my gear with me.

After dropping my daughter to the day care, I thought I saw a crow flying overhead. But on second look, it's actually a Turkey Vulture. It's hovering so low, just above the trees. It's so low and slow I could have used just the 300mm without the TC.

Turkey Vultures are not that uncommon. But they usually fly high whenever I see them. So, that's an opportunity missed.

I almost hit my head for not bringing my gear, but I was driving that time, no time to monkey around.

Oh well, better luck next time.

Second lesson.
Actually, this is a precautionary measure.
For those paying attention, I've been putting seeds on a makeshift feeder using a lid of Selecta, for the ground feeders.
Though the birds are enjoying it, this might be a bad idea.
As I was told yesterday, the neighborhood or feral cats are back in the backyard. And one of them jumped and almost caught a finch.
For the past years, I did an all out war with these cats. Unfortunately it's illegal to harm these pests. This year, we haven't seen them so I thought it's safe to put feeders for the birds.
I guess the war is back. I have to fortify all possible entry points to the yard, if I have to put traps I'll do it.

Any suggestions to prevent these ferals from coming back?

Thanks for reading this far (you deserve some cookie points). ;D ;D ;D

[Eric Patdu]

Hello Ted,

I thought your top-of-the-line Selecta lid feeders are cool I wanted to use them too but I guess you're right about the feral cats. Though I don't see any feral cats around our place, I do know that our neighbor has a tabby cat as I saw it a few times peeking at their window.

I know how you feel about the cats. I remember reading a news about a lawsuit filed against the director of the Galveston Ornithological Society who shot a feral cat (and planned to shoot the others) because they were decimating the very small population of endangered piping plovers in Galveston Bay.

Well........, it's a long-time war between the cat lovers and the bird lovers...... between a specie that took time to evolve to fit in the environment against an exotic specie that shouldn't have been there in the first place...... between saving an entire bird population against a single cat...... etc......

But then again, I am a bird lover and that's why my sentiments are biased. So to be fair, the feral cats (with emphasis on feral) also have their rights...... like....... uhhhhmmmmm.......... aaahhhhhh....... anyway....... I'm still a bird lover. ;D

[Teddy Regpala]

Before I had the feeders, I only had one problem with these feral cats. They're make use of the vegetable garden box as their personal bathroom. Yuk!
And sometimes, on the ground cover (barks) which are harder to see.

My back neighbor has this HUGE cat, I saw him kill the lizard that's been happily eating insects in my backyard. It's not that he's starving, he just want to play with the poor lizard. So yeah, they kill for fun and it's ok because they're just being themselcves, a cat.

And my other cul de sac neighbor, has another cat. According to them, it's a house cat. But for all we know, the cat is outside most of the time. And I think it's one of the cats used to loiter in my yard.

I don't have anything against pets and pet lovers. I grew up having lots of cats, dogs, and other animals myself. In fact name any type of pet (except reptiles), I had them at some point in time. I only stopped having pets when I moved here in the states.
What I'm against with is the irresponsible pet ownership.
They have to keep those pets indoors if they can't control the behavior when the pets are outside. Owners need to keep their pets fixed, to control over population. Pet shelters are over crowded to the point they no longer keep ferals (they release them where they caught the cat after being fixed).

Oh well. Thanks for listening about my rants.

[Ding Carpio]

On first lesson: Used to stow my gear in the trunk all the time. But then, my long lenses started getting mold. So, now, I keep mine in a dry box. Of course, I always drag them out when going somewhere that's got birding potential. Oh, and as for the laptop bag, I got me a Kata R103 which is a great backpack that fits my camera with 400mm attached plus it has a slot for a notebook.

Bottom line, though, don't feel too bad. There'll always be birds you'll miss.

On cats: I'd use one of those toy guns with plastic beads as bullets. (I do it on stray dogs that try to run after me on some sorties). After a few hits, they'd probably learn to keep away. Oops, I guess that's still not animal-friendly.

[Teddy Regpala]

Jul 28, 2008 21:07:38 GMT Ding Carpio said:

Bottom line, though, don't feel too bad. There'll always be birds you'll miss.

Hahaha, that's so true Ding. I feel better now.

I'm actually thinking about powerful water guns. But the thing is, they're gone by the time I stepped my foot on the patio.

[Eric Patdu]

Jul 28, 2008 21:04:59 GMT Teddy Regpala said:

I don't have anything against pets and pet lovers. I grew up having lots of cats, dogs, and other animals myself. In fact name any type of pet (except reptiles), I had them at some point in time.

You know what Ted, I also used to have almost anything as pet in my younger years, except reptiles too (my Mom won't allow me to keep snakes ;D ). Well, I had chickens, birds, rabbits, dogs, cats, fishes, white rats (not guinea pigs, but rats!), mice, even had jumping spiders, praying mantis and believe it or not, I even kept a roach's egg until it hatched. Yuck!!!